In 2008, a serial killer known as the Cajun Cannibal brutally murders and consumes the flesh of eight people in a small Louisiana parish. With law enforcement closing in on him, he takes his own life before he can face the inside of a courtroom.

Ten years later, when forensic psychiatrist Dr. Vincent Blackburn discovers he and the Cajun Cannibal are more closely connected than he realized, he begins a case study into the sociopathy behind the killer’s grisly deeds, only to find a torrent of small town politics, interracial family dynamics, and whispers of the supernatural muddying once clear waters. 

When copycat killings start anew, Vincent is thrust into the center of it all, putting his life, his family, and his own sanity at risk. As monsters—both figurative and literal—begin to manifest, Vincent discovers that untangling the truth from the lies is only the beginning of his nightmare.

A southern-fried, speculative sensation, N.L Lavin and Hunter Burke’s “Of Flesh and Blood,” is a well-seasoned slab of Cajun horror, simmered low and slow in the Louisiana heat. This horrifying gumbo of small town politics, local folklore and Acadian culture is of course, essential reading irrespective of whether you’re down on the bayou, or, like yours truly, a completely oblivious and woefully under-qualified Brit nearly 5000 miles away, whose point of reference is seafood boil and hot sauce. A novel that reads like true crime “Of Flesh and Blood,” is brooding and blistering and who’d have guessed, bloody. Complete with a complex cast of characters, and more twists than a bowl of fusilli in a tornado, this sinewy triumph (along with the Cajun Cannibal, so watch yourself) is out June 10th from Titan in the UK (thank you for my ARC) and Crooked Lane Books in the US.

We follow Dr. Vincent Blackburn, a psychiatrist studying the murders of the infamous Henri Judice, better known to the public and tabloids as the Cajun Cannibal, in 2008, 10 years down the line. His research raises a whole host of pressing questions. How was Judice able to kill so many, for so long? How were so many signs missed by the local sheriff’s department? In fact, the more Blackburn looks into it, the flimsier concrete answers become. Unclear motives. Muddled timings. Tampered evidence. No longer believing the narrative that Judice was a psychopath, Blackburn’s own mental (and physical) health is put in jeopardy. Was he really a cold-blooded monster? Or just a convenient one? Could it really be that the world is wrong about the identity of the Cajun Cannibal… or is blood thicker than water?

“Of Flesh and Blood,” drags the reader boots first into this tangle between academia and ancestry. It’s a situation that can only be described as awkward. Blackburn initially approaches the case of the Cajun Cannibal with a textbook detachment, the way one might examine a specimen under glass, having been trained to reduce trauma to neat conclusions and thesis topics. Theory quickly crumbles under the weight of blood however, and what he finds is not easily filed away. It’s this that makes “Of Flesh and Blood,” so much more than a piece of crime fiction with horror trappings. An autopsy of not just the mind of an *alleged* killer, but the place he grew up in and the family that raised him, Lavin and Burke discuss small town trauma, politics and memory, and various other flaws beneath that Southern charm.

The road that Burke and Lavin veer down is not simply unexpected but unpaved, unlit and flanked by dense South Louisianan woodland. What starts as a tightly wound, procedurally uneasy thriller, gradually unfurls into something far stranger and older. There’s a central piece of regional folklore I wasn’t familiar with, and am now deeply obsessed with. This element is expertly deployed, not with a crash of thunder but a subtlety and restraint that makes it less of a shocking revelation and more of a slow, inevitable unearthing- despite its fantastical nature. And the ending? “Of Flesh and Blood,” will leave you pacing, and channelling your inner True Detective. Masterfully done. 

If you like a calm, tidy reading experience, in which every thread is neatly tied and no blood gets on the carpet, “Of Flesh and Blood,” is simply not the book for you. If however you prefer your fiction fried dark, seasoned heavy and served with a side of the paranormal, you’re in for one hell of a treat. A narrative that writhes and twists and bites, and offers not one single easy answer, if you come armed with a corkboard, some red string and a strong stomach, you’re guaranteed to have a wonderful time. Compulsive, confounding and completely unforgettable, it’s safe to say that the weekend (I couldn’t help but binge-read) I spent in the bayou was one well spent.

Synopsis

Combat Monsters brings together twenty award-winning and bestselling speculative fiction authors who each bring their own spin on an alternate history of World War II.

New research has uncovered deeply buried military secrets—both the Allied and Axis special operations during World War II included monsters. Did the Soviets use a dragon to win the Battle of Kursk? Did a vampire fight for the Canadians in Holland? Did the US drop the second atomic bomb on a kaiju?

This collection takes real events from World War II and injects them with fantastical creatures that mirror the “unreality” of war itself. Each story—and two poems—feature mythical, mystical, and otherwise unexplainable beings that change the course of history. Dragons rise and fall, witches cast deadly spells, mermaids reroute torpedoes, and all manner of “monsters” intervene for better or worse in the global turmoil of World War II.

Together, Combat Monsters challenge the very definition of monstrous, with the brutality of war as a sobering backdrop.

Review

Thanks to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for this audio arc. 

A concise set of stories meshing monsters with the atrocities of WWII. Vampires, witches, werewolves, dragons, krakens, genetically modified humans and animals, and DNA-altered bears, oh my. I particularly appreciated the generous take on “monster” as well as the shaping of war being the true evil. I don’t tend to enjoy war stuff that alters historical events in any big way as I feel it takes away from the people that paid for the outcome with their lives, and I’m glad to say this one skirted that exceptionally. The editor asked each contributor to ground their story in fact, within real events, but the outcomes were the same and the supernatural elements were simply helping or layered within. 

I enjoyed how each story took readers to a new place, a new perspective, a new country even. Including countries I wasn’t even aware took part in the war. We traveled the world and learned of the supernatural just under the surface. We read stories from the beginning of the war, and we read stories from the very bombing that ended the war. The variety within is really what makes this collection so special. 

Particular stand outs included a story that acted as almost an unauthorized sequel to Dracula and the Demeter, a werewolf that’s helped by something else, a crazy croctopus taking out strike teams, and the farming bears. I apologize because as I did the audio, which I typically do while driving, I didn’t think to note the names/authors!

Review:

When I first discovered C.S. Humble’s The Massacre at Yellow Hill, I was giddy. That book mixes a gritty western mythos with vampires, secret societies, and cosmic horror, but more importantly, it does what I come to story for: it gave me new people to love.

Gilbert Ptolemy and his adopted son, Carson; Tabitha Miller and her family; these characters appear fully formed on the page, and they assert their reality with every action, every scrap of dialogue, every sacrifice.

It doesn’t hurt that Humble’s prose alternates between razor sharp observation and passages of lyrical beauty not often found in your average horror novel.

As I read on through the trilogy (A Red Winter in the West and The Light of Black Star), it became clear that there was much more at work there. Through this ever-expanding story, Humble wasn’t just spinning a great yarn. He was building worlds.

The 19th century of Humble’s books may sometimes resemble that historical era, but it is most certainly an alternative history with complex, competing occult organizations, all variety of supernatural entities, a highly regimented Gunfighters Guild, a young hero struggling with his troubling destiny, and a deep system of magic that ties all of these disparate parts together, leading up to a final battle.

I’d been hoodwinked. This wasn’t a horror-western series at all. I was reading an epic fantasy.

Ever since, I’ve been an evangelist for these books, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Hey, you want to have your heart ripped out? Have I got the books for you.

So, when I heard that Humble was releasing more books in the series, I was understandably excited, and when I learned that they were prequels, I was doubly excited. Why? Because in Humble’s world, there is no safety for anyone, especially those characters we love most. So these prequels offer us the opportunity to spend time with those we’ve loved and lost.

More importantly, they allow Humble to deepen his world building, slow down to investigate the mythology of The Peregrine Estate, the occult organization fighting for the fate of the world. We also get a deeper look at the mechanics and politics of the famed Gunfighters Guild. All of this while we see the pieces shifting slowly into place to bring us to the plot events of the original trilogy. It’s deeply imagined, fascinating stuff.

But none of that is what matters.

These books are pure character work.

The opening volume, To Carry a Body to its Resting Place, follows the early career of the lovable rogue, Ashley Sutliff. In the original trilogy, Sutliff is a kind of Han Solo figure, drawn into the occult drama against his will. He’d much rather be playing cards, though, naturally, under his brash exterior is a loyal heart.

To Carry a Body to its Resting Place rounds out Sutliff’s character to great effect, humanizing him to an almost unbearable degree.

Ashley is drawn home by the news of his father’s impending death, and while there he uncovers family secrets and eventually rides off on what will become his first action for the Peregrine Estate, but these latter details are almost incidental. The heart of this book is a meditation of fathers and sons, what is owed, and how we say goodbye that more to Larry McMurtry than any horror or fantasy writer. It’s an emotionally wrenching read that suddenly hurtles into action.

San Antonio Mission is a much more plot-driven entry, with my favorite character, Gilbert Ptolemy dispatched by the Peregrine Estate to recruit newly freed slaves to join the cause. Ptolemy, a former slave himself, is partnered with the wisecracking Sarah Lockhart and a member of the Gunfighter’s Guild because there’s no guarantee that the former owner of these people will allow them to leave, even in this post-Juneteenth era.

These suspicions turn out to be correct, but nothing could prepare our team for the depth of the horrors that await them at the mission.

San Antonio Mission focuses more on human horrors, while placing them quite explicitly within their historical contexts, allowing Humble to investigate the horrors of U.S. history itself, and its legacy of racist violence. It also offers a cathartic response to those who set themselves up as tyrants. Add in some romance and the delightful new gunslinger, Oliver Maine, and this second volume feels like a much more complete and self-contained entry into the saga.

The final book in the trilogy, The Baroness of the Eastern Seaboard, does a lot to segue into the original storyline, presenting some of the future Big Bads, while also allowing the reader to access the interior world of the Gunfighters Guild. As with the other volumes, these are mostly details. The center of The Baroness of the Eastern Seaboard is the relationship between Sven and Larry, devoted husbands who also happen to be inching perilously close to each other’s ranks within the Guild. Any day now, they will be forced to compete for rank, meaning one of them must die.

The couples’ attempt to petition the Guild for a way around this impossibility leads to quests for each of the lovers, both of them bloody and harrowing. The most explicitly romantic of the three books, Baroness is a love story wrapped in a Peckinpah movie’s violence and propulsive action.

As a reader, all I wanted to do was protect Sven and Larry, but the facts of Humble’s universe leave no one safe, and things get just about as bad as they can get while still leaving our heroes alive to appear later on in the saga.

All in all, The Peregrine Estate Trilogy is a varied and wondrous treasure trove of stories that situate themselves less as straight prequels than as elaborate midrash, glimpses between the scenes of the larger story, illustrating Humble’s knack for not only storytelling and lush prose, but his near magical penchant for character building. It is a necessary addition to what has become a vast saga. Here’s hoping there’s more to come.

The Peregrine Estate Trilogy will be available in September of 2025.

There’s not much rumbling during the Recipe Days show at the Lubbock Municipal Coliseum—except for stomachs, that is—until the professional wrestlers arrive early for their Saturday night matches. Chaos ensues when the home cooks are overrun by Xombie, the Hellbillies, and Jersey Devil Jill.

They’re not everyone’s idea of family fun . . . especially when the rowdy wrestlers descend on the free donuts brought for the security team—and are turned into brain-eating zombies. The night’s main event starts early with undead wrestlers squaring off against kitchen divas and soccer moms. And as the contagion spreads, the few survivors, armed with mixers, booth poles, and a Zamboni, must fight to keep their heads on straight—and off the menu.

Absurd, bonkers, completely off its rocker (I could continue for the rest of the alphabet until about x) and something that only Stephen Graham Jones could pull off so brilliantly, “Zombie Bake-Off,” is undeniably a balls to the wall, fun, gory time. Whilst Jones’ unmistakable and exquisite prose means that this book couldn’t have possibly been written by anyone else, one is forced to question exactly what was happening when he sat down to write this one. Perhaps a particularly vivid nightmare after too much late night “Food Network?” Whatever the case, we should all be grateful. For those familiar with the Great British Bake-off, Britain’s only redeeming cultural export aside from perhaps Andrew Michael Hurley, I assure you this is not a book to cozy up with and read with the family at 8PM on a Tuesday evening. There is not a scone in sight. If however you have watched the bake off and thought it was lacking hordes of undead luchadores, contaminated donuts, and graphic violence in general, this book may well be your cup of tea. If you have an empty stomach and a rolling pin to hand, why not don your apron (things get messy) and step into the ring.

We follow Terry who is an event manager at the Lubbock Municipal Coliseum. During the (fateful) day, the “Recipe Days,” show is taking place, in which a host of mothers and grandmothers, armed with secret ingredients and age-old recipes, set up shop to show that love, tradition and butter make the world spin round. It’s almost guaranteed to be a heart-warming event appropriate for all the family and perfect for a local newspaper puff piece. Until the slimy Johnny T and his “Hell-billes,” show up early for their wrestling match later that night. With the “Recipe Days,” representative already kicking up a fuss, the luchadores are quickly ushered away, and begin to descend upon the donuts ordered especially for the security team. What they didn’t know what no one (apart from one rather panicked baker’s son called Rex) could have known is that those donuts are contaminated. When Jersey Devil Jill, Gentleman Jim, Billy Bob Graham and the others begin turning into brain-eating, blood-thirsty zombies it quickly becomes apparent that the Recipe Days show will not go down in history as a wholesome food festival.

SGJ’s prose is something I’ve come to adore, but it wasn’t love at first read. Frankly I simply couldn’t get into the flow of Jones’ writing the first time around (and spent about a year convinced he wasn’t for me (WRONG)). Despite the bizarro premise, hilariously named characters and rapid descent into gorey, brain-filled mania, Jones’ unmistakable voice remains intact, and is still as intelligent, rhythmic and rich as ever. If you’re a fan, expect more of the same beautiful writing, with the added bonus of zombie wrestlers. If you’re looking for a point at which to start reading Stephen, I’d recommend his tor.com originals, which you can read for free and in one sitting. 

A no-holds-barred and hilarious romp that hits as hard and as fast as a folding chair to the face, if you’re looking for some lucha-libre brain munching, or perhaps simply a zombie story that’s a little different, then you can and should be reading this one. It’s gory, it’s chaotic and it’s so absurd that it loops back around to genius- it’s part horror, part comedy, and absolute carnage. 

SYNOPSIS

One night, Jess, a struggling actress, finds a five-year-old runaway hiding in the bushes outside her apartment. After a violent, bloody encounter with the boy’s father, she and the boy find themselves running for their lives.

As they attempt to evade the boy’s increasingly desperate father, Jess slowly comes to a horrifying understanding of the butchery that follows them―the boy can turn his every fear into reality.

And when the wolf finally comes home, no one will be spared.

REVIEW

Thank you Tor Nightfire for sending me an ARC of When the Wolf Comes Home to read and review. All opinions are honest and my own.

When the Wolf Comes Home hit me like a ton of screaming bricks and it might be a contender for my favorite horror book, if not ever, then in a very long time. The sheer raw imagination on display here is unbelievable. And I can’t talk about any of it in detail because to spoil this book would be a crime punishable by death.

The set pieces are literally jaw dropping in their creativity and depravity. Reading this novel felt like watching Evil Dead 2 for the first time when I was way too young. I was in awe at what was unfolding between the pages. A truly unique story, I haven’t been so excited while reading a book in, I don’t know how long. Like a kid in a candy store, there was always something to keep me glued to the page. Relatable, flawed and real characters; unbelievably imaginative kills (one of which will scar me for the rest of my life, holy shit Nat Cassidy, how the fuck do you even think of that); found family and daddy issues like you’ve never seen before.

Beneath all the blood, gore and viscera, there is a beating heart and Nat Cassidy has crafted a beautiful story of reckoning with your parents that can be effective to any perspective you read from. As a father with two kids from a previous relationship and one from my current, this book was eye opening. Reading from the perspective of a character who didn’t really know her father really struck a chord with me. It made me step back and re-evaluate my relationships with my kids. It made me want to be the best father I can be, but also realize I’ll never be perfect and that’s okay. If you’ve recently lost a parent, or have a troubled relationship with a parent, you might take away something completely different, and that’s the true magic of this book.

Fear is another theme running through the veins of this story. This is just my interpretation, but I feel like it’s saying that fear isn’t bad, fear is vital to being human. It’s how you manage that fear. You can lose yourself to it and never try for fear of failing. You can let fear rule your life and hide from everything. Everyone deals with fear differently and there are no easy answers.

A fast-paced, blood soaked, nightmare fueled road trip full of as much heart as it is gore, When the Wolf Comes Home will have you reading on the edge of your seat from start to finish. It’s not all carnage and mayhem though. Nat Cassidy poses many moral quandaries and dilemmas throughout that will have you questioning the characters decisions while wondering what you would do in these characters’ shoes. What would you do to protect your child? That question is brought up several times through this novel and it’s a tough one to answer. One might say, “anything”, but do you know what “anything” really means? Read this novel and find out.

RELEASE DATE: APRIL 22. 2025

Synopsis

Combat Monsters brings together twenty award-winning and bestselling speculative fiction authors who each bring their own spin on an alternate history of World War II.

New research has uncovered deeply buried military secrets—both the Allied and Axis special operations during World War II included monsters. Did the Soviets use a dragon to win the Battle of Kursk? Did a vampire fight for the Canadians in Holland? Did the US drop the second atomic bomb on a kaiju?

This collection takes real events from World War II and injects them with fantastical creatures that mirror the “unreality” of war itself. Each story—and two poems—feature mythical, mystical, and otherwise unexplainable beings that change the course of history. Dragons rise and fall, witches cast deadly spells, mermaids reroute torpedoes, and all manner of “monsters” intervene for better or worse in the global turmoil of World War II.

Together, Combat Monsters challenge the very definition of monstrous, with the brutality of war as a sobering backdrop.

Review

I have a soft spot for short story anthologies. Don’t get me wrong — I love an epic fantasy or a sprawling sci-fi space opera as well — but there is something special about a book with a few handfuls of small little narratives. Each tale has its own writing style, its own perspective, its own flavor. And if you don’t like one of the stories — Good News! There’s plenty more to dive into. And these anthologies are easy to read in chunks…putting it down after a few stories without needing to worry about where you were in the book.

I was thrilled to get an early copy of Combat Monsters: Untold Tales of World War II in exchange for an honest review. I had a blast with the anthology and I know I’ll be thinking about some of the stories for a while to come. 

Combat Monsters takes a wide and ranging look at World War II from the early years to the final nail in the coffin with the bombing of Nagasaki. As a history teacher in my daytime job, I really connected with this book. There was so much to appreciate about this well-edited book. The stories were put in chronological order; the stories can just about exist on their own even without the monster and supernatural elements; there is a great variety with stories featured from each theater of the last great war. 

Whenever I review an anthology, I like to point out a few of my individual favorite stories, so here are the ones that really resonated with me: 

The Fourth Man by Jeff Edwards

For me, this was the best of the bunch. Wow. This is a story that really leaned into all the prompts. World War II – check. Supernatural beast – check. Something that shows that perhaps the horrors of war are not the only horrors in this life or beyond – check. I loved the framing device with the main character looking for absolution in the present day for the “sin” he committed during the war, crossing a line that helped the Allies win. There was a great combination of action, and ideas that are going to keep me thinking for quite some time, I think. 

Grigoriy’s Army by Catherine Stine

One of the fun things I like to teach about is Hannibal trying to invade Rome with war elephants. Catherine Stine takes the ideas of animals in war and takes it a step further. Through a tragic childhood that left Grigoriy abnormally bright but also stunted socially, he used his and his father’s research to genetically engineer an army of bears to defeat the Nazis. I would have loved for this story to keep going and to see what else poor Grigoriy has up his sleeve after the war ended.  

Bockscar by David Mack

The closing story in this collection is about the crew of the plane heading to Nagasaki and the ethical dilemma they find themselves in. I really don’t want to spoil this story, but there is a lot more to see in this story beyond the “should we?” or “shouldn’t we?” questions the crew asks in the moments before they reach Japan. Even without the twist in this story, I was enjoying this one for the simple ethical questions that we are still asking today, but the hidden reasons for the bombing make it all the more juicy. 

I would love to write something about each story — in fact if I wrote this review tomorrow, I’d probably pick two or three different stories to highlight. I found a few new authors to be aware of in the future and enjoyed new works by some writers I already loved. I really did have a great time with this book and will definitely be checking out other works edited by Henry Herz in the future. 

One night, Jess, a struggling actress, finds a five-year-old runaway hiding in the bushes outside her apartment. After a violent, bloody encounter with the boy’s father, she and the boy find themselves running for their lives.

As they attempt to evade the boy’s increasingly desperate father, Jess slowly comes to a horrifying understanding of the butchery that follows them―the boy can turn his every fear into reality.

And when the wolf finally comes home, no one will be spared.

Fear is an emotion integral to the genre. It revolves around it entirely. For the majority of my childhood it was something I avoided. Case in point: when my brother was 9 and I was 11 my Dad offered to watch “Jaws,” with us, whilst my brother gave it a go (and inevitably screamed and left the room 5 minutes in) I refused from the get-go, opting to watch Smurfs with my mum upstairs. Of course my relationship with fear, anxiety, and horror has evolved (at least a little, I still won’t snorkel) and that’s something that Nat Cassidy explores in “When The Wolf Comes Home,” which is easily the first 5 star read of the year. Far from your average werewolf book, Cassidy delivers a bleak yet propulsive, snarling beast of a novel that could not be better executed, from its characters (including the Loch Ness monster) to its prose. Horror at its most unflinching and imaginative, this is a novel that gnaws at questions of fatherhood, intention and fear. My eternal thanks to Titan for the ARC, I reckon that this could be my favourite of the year. Trust me, you’ll want to pick it up April 22nd. It’s raw, it’s relentless, and you may not come out of the other side unscathed.

Jess has a particularly terrible shift at her terrible job at a terrible diner, and finds herself stuck with a dirty needle. She rushes home, and is in the midst of calming herself with a beer and googling her symptoms, when she spots something. A little boy. She takes him back to her apartment, and that’s when things well and truly kick off. A strange altercation outside is abruptly cut off by a 9ft bear, wolf thing. Jess’ roommate is dead, her apartment is ruined, and she’s stuck with this nameless little boy, who insists that thing is his dad. 

“When The Wolf Comes Home,” is a book about intention and reality, about the burden of protection. Jess finds herself assuming the role of protector. She is a single struggling actor, she does not want to be looking after this child, especially one this fragile. Thrust into the unexpected role of guardian she finds herself lying, manipulating, telling white lies to put his active mind at ease. In many ways she makes similar mistakes to the man they’re running from. That brings us on to the wolf. That character explores the thin line between predator and protector, reality vs intention. A vast treacherous chasm that even our best-laid plans can be swallowed up by. Control can be passed off as love, care can edge into cruelty, and shielding can be indistinguishable from possession. The act of caring for someone often comes with strings attached, and those strings can sometimes gradually become chains. Jess herself is flitting between grief and complete disregard for the recent death of her own estranged father- she initially finds herself unable to believe the kiddo’s claims, but empathetic in regard to the daddy issues. It’s a reminder that sometimes the people we love can fail, keep secrets, let us down. Nat himself probably sums it up best with “All Dads Are Motherfuckers.”

“When The Wolf Comes Home,” demonstrates the intensity of fear. How it can shape and warp reality, how it can influence our actions, how it can motivate us, paralyze us, act as a catalyst. In this novel it is less of an emotion or a feeling and more of an architect, something that impacts and reshapes not just the actions of the characters but the very fabric of the world that they live in. There is one especially tremendous passage involving FBI special agent Santos, that is a contender for one of the most grisly yet poignant and gorgeous passages in horror literature. I digress. For Jess, the relentless presence of anxiety acts as a motivator and a tormentor. In moments of stark terror (evil cartoon characters who are particularly animated, the literal loch ness monster, a wolf that is as big and bad as they come) Jess discovers reserves of strength. Fear may be an antagonist but it’s also the very force that propels the characters forward. Sometimes the only way out of the nightmare is straight through it. It forces her to keep moving, to protect the Kiddo at all costs, whilst clouding her judgment and leaving her second-guessing every decision. It pushes her to lie, manipulate, and create elaborate fiction where the truth is too monstrous to face head-on. Cassidy doesn’t let fear settle into a single role; instead, he shows how it is lucid, a driving force one second and a paralyzing one the next.

Like plotting points on a graph, throughout “When The Wolf Comes Home,” Cassidy establishes a trajectory from childhood’s primal fear to the more complex, existential and constant anxieties of adulthood. As a child, fear is immediate and visceral: the monster under the bed, the shadows that move when they shouldn’t, or, in Kiddo’s case, the real, hulking menace of a wolf-like creature, should his father get angry. Childhood fear is direct and it’s pure in its simplicity. No explanation or reason or logic is required because the very presence of something unsavoury is enough. Adulthood takes that same fear and layers it with nuance, guilt, responsibilities. Jess’s fears, for example, are largely about failing someone who depends upon her, implicating more of her friends and family in the mess she’s found herself in, her health, her future, the expectation on her to make the right decisions. Her fear goes beyond the wolf stalking her; it’s self-doubt, her feelings toward her father, the belief she can’t win with the cards she’s been handed. The evolution of fear from something evil that lurks in closets and under beds to something that gnaws and festers within is an inevitable one, but we’re reminded that whilst we may learn to shrug off strange shadows and creaking floorboards, fear is something adults learn to wear differently, as opposed to some coat that can be shrugged off. 

If this review went on for much longer, it would probably come with its own ISBN. Considering that the length of time for which I ramble is a good metric for my adoration toward a book, if you’ve made it this far, surely there’s no need for me to continue belaboring that “When The Wolf Comes Home,” is an utter masterpiece, and were I any more excited about it, I’d need a sedative. I initially hoped that we would at the very least be a step closer to closing the werewolf deficit in horror literature (I WANT MORE WEREWOLVES) and whilst, yes we are, I was in for a hell of a lot more than that. I was scared, I am hurt, and I will be nothing short of insufferable pending its April 22nd release. 

Synopsis:

One night, Jess, a struggling actress, finds a five-year-old runaway hiding in the bushes outside her apartment. After a violent, bloody encounter with the boy’s father, she and the boy find themselves running for their lives.

As they attempt to evade the boy’s increasingly desperate father, Jess slowly comes to a horrifying understanding of the butchery that follows them—the boy can turn his every fear into reality.

And when the wolf finally comes home, no one will be spared.

Review:

When the Wolf Comes Home finds Nat Cassidy once again reimagining and remixing classic horror tales with his own distinct vision. Mary: An Awakening of Terror is his bizarre riff on King’s Carrie, Nestlings looks like Rosemary’s Baby on the outside and opens into something infinitely stranger and more interesting, and now we have a delightful cross between Firestarter and an old, classic episode of the Twilight Zone, with maybe a little nod to Dean Koontz’s Watchers as well, but it rises well above these inspirations, creating what is sure to become a modern masterpiece.

Jess is an aspiring actor working the night shift at a diner when her life goes sideways. Things are already not going great before her apartment complex is attacked by what appears very much to be a nine foot tall wolf walking on its hind legs.

She escapes this carnage and in the process picks up a nameless five year old boy who is even more traumatized and terrified than Jess herself. Whatever is going on, it becomes clear that the boy’s father is looking for him, and he’s not a nice guy. What’s the connection between dad and the wolf? The answer, which at first seems obvious, is just one twist in a twisty tale.

Thus begins a cross-country chase that carves a bloody path behind this odd couple. They meet lots of helpers along the way, and the bond between Jess and the boy she calls Kiddo grows strong. Meanwhile an up-and-coming FBI agent with Mulderish aspirations is assigned to the case, adding yet another layer of danger to the journey.

It’s the relationship between Jess and Kiddo that’s the heart of When the Wolf Comes Home, and it’s so effective, so effortlessly accomplished, that it was as if I could feel myself being manipulated in the very best ways. Jess is no heroic protector. She’s just a young woman in a tight spot, and she’s allowed to make bad choices, think bad thoughts, and long for the whole thing to just be over and out of her hands, but the bond is real, and it carries a story that has absolutely no qualms about getting real, real weird. Let’s just say that both Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and the Loch Ness monster play pivotal roles. Bonus points for a heavy nod to one of my personal patron saints, Ursula LeGuin.

The road trip is a timeworn narrative structure, but it is also an internal journey for Jess, who manages to find time amidst all of the chaos to work through feelings about the death of her deadbeat dad, as well as all the friends and loved ones she looses along the way. If that sounds like a lot of balls to keep in the air, you’re right, but it’s all so thematically cohesive that it somehow works.

It’s a testament to the power of this story that even after unravelling the stories essential red herrings and twists, is manages a climax that is both utterly surprising and thematically right. Fear, Cassidy seems to tell us, is inescapable, but it also contains the seeds of bravery, creativity, and finally, love.

I have no doubt that When the Wolf Comes Home will be Cassidy’s breakout novel, cementing his place amongst a roster of Horror superstars, and I can’t wait to see what comes next.

Synopsis

A young woman in need of a transformation finds herself in touch with the animal inside in this gripping, incisive USA Today bestselling novel from the author of Cackle and The Return.

Rory Morris isn’t thrilled to be moving back to her hometown, even if it is temporary. There are bad memories there. But her twin sister, Scarlett, is pregnant, estranged from the baby’s father, and needs support, so Rory returns to the place she thought she’d put in her rearview. After a night out at a bar where she runs into Ian, an old almost-flame, she hits a large animal with her car. And when she gets out to investigate, she’s attacked.
 
Rory survives, miraculously, but life begins to look and feel different. She’s unnaturally strong, with an aversion to silver—and suddenly the moon has her in its thrall. She’s changing into someone else—something else, maybe even a monster. But does that mean she’s putting those close to her in danger? Or is embracing the wildness inside of her the key to acceptance?
 
This darkly comedic love story is a brilliantly layered portrait of trauma, rage, and vulnerability.

Review

I’ve seen so many positive reviews for the author this year that I finally grabbed one of their books. I did the audio, and Kristen Sieh did a fantastic job with it. 

On the surface, this is the quintessential werewolf story. A mysterious attack that ends in a bite. Strange healing, new appetite, an aversion to silver, and then of course, that first full moon, incredible pain, fur, and waking up bloody. But what the author has layered here is anything but typical. What could virtually function as a familial contemporary drama has been layered within this werewolf horror. Rory has returned home for a few months to help her twin sister out with the end of her pregnancy. She’s in need of something new, a change, a transformation, but the one she gets is anything but what she had in mind. And as she begins to work through the past she thought she had left behind, old friends and even old flings begin to make themselves known. 

An additional layer that I thoroughly enjoyed throughout was the novel’s humor. The author has imbued this story, and even some of its more serious moments with some really great, tongue-in-cheek turns. From Rory’s dark, sarcastic millennial attitude, to her almost entirely meat driven diet, there is a sense of comic relief even when the beats turn emotional. I think as a novel taking on the werewolf trope that was a really wise and well done choice. 

And while there are some darker notes here, especially those around sexual assault and compounded family trauma, the novel in essence is about bodily autonomy and choice. The mirroring of Rory losing her choice and freedom to this monstrous change to her sister’s fear and loss as she’s about to give birth and virtually have to completely relearn the idea of “self” really can’t be understated. The fact that they are twins, one with a past of trauma and the other without, really drives home that closeness as well. And together they learn that they can forgive and grow, to move forward. 

The romantic side story in this did move a bit fast, but when you keep in mind their past together, it’s pretty understandable. His ability to see past her imperfections, including the monthly side with fangs, ties back into choice and the ability to move on. I will definitely read more from the author!

And be sure to check out George’s review as well as Charlie’s review

A give Anna’s recent author interview a watch!

SYNOPSIS

Jeffrey Knight is a down on his luck self proclaimed loser. He can’t keep a job, forced into hours of work in the hell that is retail. His only stable thing in his life was his relationship with his longtime girlfriend…that is until he catches her cheating on him. Now with nothing left, he begrudgingly agrees to join his best friend on a night of fake zombie hunting paintball. The only solace he has in his pitiful life. That is, until he learns zombies are real…

Jennifer Mayer has spent her whole life hunting monsters. Working tirelessly for a secret organization of mercenaries to protect normal citizens from learning the truth. However, there are a growing number of undead, and her organization leaders refuse to believe her that something catastrophic is coming. She is in need of new recruits to prevent a coming “Day of the Dead” event.

After saving Jeff from near death Jennifer takes him on as a pupil. Jennifer must train Jeff in everything she knows while avoiding the growing feelings and memories he reignites in her — feelings she thought she buried long ago.

Jeff has never finished anything in his life, allowing his fears to stop him. If he chokes up now, there might not be a normal world to go back to.

REVIEW

When a game of Zombie Paintball becomes frighteningly real, Jeff is brought into a secret group of operatives who protect the world from what’s hiding in the shadows. A spark of romance ignites up between him and Jennifer, his recruiter and trainer. Chaos ensues.

Fast-paced, action packed, and full of great characters, Z.E.R.O. was a real treat. I went in mostly blind with only the cover, a brief synopsis, and a glowing recommendation from Ed Crocker, editor of this novel and friend/co-conspirator here at FanFiAddict/FearForAll. I was NOT disappointed.

The character work in this novel is top-notch. We’re introduced to quite a few characters once Jeff is brought into the Z.E.R.O. organization, but it never felt overwhelming. We meet people who at first seem like typical caricatures, the tough boss, the mysterious one, etc. but as we get to know them, they become fully realized characters that go far beyond what was on the surface. Everyone has a very unique voice, and every action they take makes sense based on what we know of them.

There is a fair amount of romance, which I’m not usually the biggest fan of, but I thought it was handled quite well. It felt a bit like a great sitcom romance, and by that I mean it isn’t the focus of the novel, but there just enough that I was invested and found myself rooting for them to work out.

What really stood out for me though, is the world-building. There’s hints at a lot more going on than we see, and what we do see is fascinating. Vampire clans, zombies, werewolves (not in this novel but mentioned), and more fun surprises make for a very unique take on the supernatural. The big bad was especially interesting and original, but I won’t elaborate on them to avoid spoilers.

Z.E.R.O. is an excellent book one to what will surely be a very fun series. Funny, scary, bloody and with just enough romance, this book has a little something for everyone. I had a blast reading this one and I can’t wait to see what Jessica Ungeheuer has in store for us next.